Pope Francis, Another Zealot?

Take a good hard look into the life of new pope. To give an overview he thinks that:

Homosexuality is still a sin. He tells people to respect homosexuals, but whent the Argintinian government is going to make sam-sex marriage legal he says, "Let's not be naive, we're not talking about a simple political battle; it is a destructive pretension against the plan of God. We are not talking about a mere bill, but rather a machination of the Father of Lies that seeks to confuse and deceive the children of God."

During his early life he gave up all his fancy posetions (personal cook, facy place to live, chauffeured limo) and made a pledge of poverty. This sounds awefully noble right? Wrong, look at why he had those things to start out with (because he was a cardinal). Think about what the Bible verson of Jesus would have done. He probably wouldn't have even considered giving those things out to preachers of his word anyway. So denying riches should be something that cardinals and popes HAVE to do an shouldn't be praised for. By the way, the pledge of poverty meant that he just had to live like everyone else in the community (what a saint -- sarcasm)

Lastly, there was a criminal complaint filed against him by a human rights lawyer for the abduction of two Jesuit priests. However, there was no evidence to prove that he had anything to do with it. :)

Replies to This Discussion

@Heather, can you explain why you feel there is "such an incredibly high number of pedo priests"? There has been high profile press exposure, but doing the math on incident rate would not support that conclusion.

I do think you make some valid points that have been brought out in studies of Catholic seminaries in the U.S. but which are echoed worldwide. There is a significantly higher than average rate of homosexuality and (separately) psycho-sexual issues at present. So the hypothesis that the life attracts those with distorted sexual development may be supported.

This is a topic of internal conversation within the faith, because there is also evidence to suggest that this is a serious contributor to the loss of more normative recruits to the priesthood.

Doing what math? You've suggested that systemic cover-up and propagation of child sexual abuse is just a normal thing that goes on anywhere that services are offered to children.

I realize such things may seem normal if you went to a Catholic school - but I assure you that most children are not raped at school. Could you please indicate what numbers you are using to support your premise that sexualization of children is no more common in Catholic youth programs than secular youth programs.

John VIII (872 - 882): John was paranoid, though perhaps with good reason, and his entire papacy was characterized by various political plots and intrigue. When he feared that people were plotting to overthrow him, he had a number of powerful bishops and other officials excommunicated. This ensured that they moved against him and a relative was convinced to slip poison in his drink. When he didn’t die fast enough, members of his own entourage beat him to death.

So popes should behave irrationally in order to prove their faith is rational? An interesting theory.

Might I suggest that your arguments would be stronger if you avoided all the false straw men? The pope is chosen by a group of 120 men, not by God, and no one believes otherwise. The pope does not talk to God, other than to pray like any other human can. The pope cannot change anything he likes, that would be silly.

Straw men arguments are comforting and can get you nods and back-slaps within monocultural belief groups like the one that exists here, but they really are a very lazy approach which can result in considerable error. One need only look at the anti-climate-change "literature" to see the same technique used frequently.